At a time when computer systems are getting more and more complex, the old paper manuals have disappeared for most software products. In their place are the built-in help systems, which can provide help content to all users on demand quickly and efficiently. The built-in help systems for today's computer software products and applications include standard help screens and context-sensitive help screens. The standard help screens have a table of contents or index, and are searchable by topic so you can find information about a specific topic at any time. The context-sensitive help screens provide information to a user based on the operation currently being performed in a software product at the time the request for help is made. The request for help may be initiated by the user, or may be triggered by a current problem within the computer software product or computer system.
Context-sensitive help screens may sometimes provide instructions for commands which require some understanding of the environment in which the computer software product is operating. Generic variables for environment information such as server names, or hard disk paths act as placeholders for the actual values from the software environment. The user then has to replace these variables with the actual values from the software environment before use. If the user experiences difficulty understanding the variables or finding the actual values to insert, the user typically has to call for technical support, at the cost of system downtime. Often, the technical support person does not have these actual values either, and the user is walked through finding the information.